The Sam Cam

Today we had one of our more successful webcam conversations. Sam actually watched the screen, where his enthusiastic grandparents were talking to us. Here's grandpa:On skype we discovered that you can take images of the person you are talking with. So we did this and swapped them back and forth. Here's the smiley baby himself.
And this is a more thoughtful picture.
On the camera, he: smiled, gazed, cried, stuck his hands in his mouth, sucked on a blanket, and waved his feet around. Fun times!

Odds and Ends

There's not much news on the baby front. Sam is mostly being the perfect little man, with only occasional fussing and crying. We continue to learn more about him:

• If he wakes up (usually alone) he starts an immediate, cute high-pitched cry. If you are around, he will almost always quiet down immediately.
• His fussy time (5:30-7ish) can usually be ameliorated by a combination of walking, singing, held napping, and bathing.
• He prefers outward facing walking, but this can be a bit of a distraction. Our balance is to distract him, but not too much.

We have some exciting family events in our future. Emily's cousin and aunt are coming soon, then we go visit my aunt and uncle (and brother, parents, and nieces) the next week, and then The Big Move is after that. I am already beginning some packing. I'm trying to use twine to pack the books. I still have to rent the U-Haul. Here's hoping it all comes together soon.

Sam

I just found this site that lists 217 words that contain "sam." I am looking for an insect, bug, or other creepy-crawly with the syllable "sam" in it (for an event at Emily's library where kids dress up as bugs). I know many of you are wordsmiths. Any ideas?

SAHD

OK, so I'm not officially a Stay at Home Dad, but on days where Emily works I get to be. Today went very well actually. Highlights included:

• Successful naps
• Reintroduction of the bottle. When we went to Ohio, we stopped using it as much. We are now reintroducing it so that I can look after him when Emily is gone.
• A lunchtime stroll and a walk in late afternoon to the local Lowe's.
• A tasty dinner.

There were no extended shrieking episodes (perhaps because he was tired from yesterday). It was a beautiful day. I think I need to find ways to remember days like today for those days where nothing seems to work well.

Here are two pictures from this morning:

I like the hint of a smile in this one. I'm biased, but I'm just constantly amazed by his cuteness.

New Apartment

So, here's the new apartment. We're very excited about two bedrooms and this seems to be a nice neighborhood. We saw other kids and babies, so their are echoes of where we've been living. The apartment is also .7 miles from campus, maybe even closer walking, so we can stick with one car and it will be easy to get around.
Sam was not initially keen on the apartment visiting concept.
But he came around with a little touring.
And was downright excited by the end.
Here he's looking very cute, if a little fuzzy.

In other exciting news, I dropped off papers to HR and saw my name on the list of fall classes, so this is all starting to feel a little more real.

The New Home

We think we have an apartment--2 bedrooms even. We should go back tomorrow, but we are risking waiting until Monday because I can't handle another drive and Sunday will be busy (preaching, friend's ordination).

Here are some pictures. It's a beautiful campus and everyone we've met has been incredibly friendly.

Recent Pictures

Back Home

We've completed our first family vacation. We spent several weeks in Ohio, including time in Cincinnati and Athens. A couple of days in Woo was great--it brought back a lot of old memories.

It was a good break, even if none of us are great travelers. Actually, Sam was the best traveler, although he turned fussy a couple of times in the evening (his typical fuss period).

We're back now. We weren't enthusiastic about opening mail or dealing with real life, but otherwise all is well. We're heading up to apartment shop later this week, and hopefully we'll begin to tie up loose ends. Exciting!